Imperial Buses
Imperial Buses is a small bus company located in Romford, Essex who operate public transport services and private hire in Essex, Greater London and Thurrock. Routes They mostly operate school buses and rail replacement services but also operate some bus routes around Essex. They have a private hire business, with vintage Routemasters and RTs. The vintage buses are seen at bus rallies, on television advertisements and on special days usually around Christmas on their H1 route. Imperial Bus Company, purchased Travel with Hunny during September 2007, however the two companies divided again in January 2008. Both companies are now separate, and are in no way connected. In September 2008, the company took over the Brentwood and Stondon Massey/Blackmore local services 71, 72 and 261 previously operated by Clintona Minicoaches. In September 2010, Imperial introduced commercial route 339 between Blackmore and Warley via Ongar and Brentwood, operating every hour on Mondays to Fridays in competition with Arriva Shires & Essex route 501. This is Imperial's first commercial operation since the H1 was withdrawn. Due to low patronage, the 339 was withdrawn on 13 December 2010. From 4 April 2011, Imperial started operating Thurrock Council contract route 11, from Purfleet Station to Chadwell St Mary via Aveley and Orsett. Previously, the route had operated from Purfleet to Basildon and was operated by Clintona Minicoaches, and before that it was operated by Blue Triangle. Reported 02/11/11 by many good sources (drivers) Imperial bus company have sold/transferred the local Brentwood service routes(71/72,261,268,269) to Regal busways of chelmsford from the 27th November 2011 . However they will continue to run the route 11, School routes and private hires as usual {| class="wikitable" |'Route Number' |'Route' |'Notes' |- |'11' |Purfleet Station to [[Basildon|Basildon Bus Station]] via Aveley, Orsett |Mon-Sat. Thurrock Council contract. |- |'28' |[[Abridge|Lambourne End Manor Road]] to Loughton via Stapleford Abbotts, Abridge |School service. Essex CC contract. |- |'62' |[[North Weald Bassett|North Weald High Road]] to Loughton via Epping, Theydon Bois |School service. Essex CC contract. |- |'116' |[[Abridge|Abridge Village Hall]] to Loughton via Debden |School service. Essex CC contract. Imperial Buses also operate many school buses across Essex and Thurrock, as well as being a frequent contributor to local rail replacement services. Previous routes Many routes, mostly Essex County Council contracts, were previously operated by Imperial Buses. * One of Imperial's first routes was the 100 which began on the 7th December 2000, operating between Loughton and Buckhurst Hill via Debden. The route started from Loughton Station, then through the High Road up to Homebase and Debden Estate, before serving Debden Broadway then operating along Oakwood Hill and Valley Hill/Loughton Way until its terminus at Buckhurst Hill Station. The route was apparently operated by Scania Metropolitan buses. The route only lasted a few months, and it is not known when it stopped operating. * Imperial began the Essex County Council contract number 10 bus route which operated from Loughton to Passingford Bridge via Debden and Abridge (this route number was originally used for a route around Loughton and Abridge which was withdrawn in the early 1970s), surprisingly the route was operated by double deckers even when only a few people ever used the route. Imperial lost the contract on 23 April 2004, and wastaken over by Trustline (this company has now been taken over by Centrebus using smaller buses. The route has now been replaced by route 541 (Loughton to Epping via Debden, Abridge, Theydon Bois), operated by Arriva Shires & Essex. * They operated Essex County Council contracted route 46 (Ongar to Chelmsford), until 28 August 2005 when Arriva Shires & Essex took over. First Essex now operate the route. * The 502 from Loughton to Romford via Debden, Abridge, Havering-atte-Bower and Collier Row was operated for a while, before being taken over by Blue Triangle of Rainham who only operated the route for a few months, before the route was discontinued. * For about a year, they operated the Loughton and Debden local routes 214, 215, 219, 220 using Plaxton Beavers until Arriva Shires & Essex took over on the 28th August 2005. The routes have since been replaced by Arriva routes 541 542 and 543. * Imperial also ran the number 320 route which operated from Lakeside Shopping Centre to Tilbury via Grays and Little Thurrock and Tilbury Asda for a while before the route was discontinued on 11 October 2006 due to competition with Ensignbus. * Another route in Tilbury was contract route 73 between Aveley and Lakeside shopping centre. They stopped operating this route on the 30th March 2007. * From the 19th December 2009, route H1 was withdrawn. This was probably Imperial's most well known route, and has operated since September 2001 (when Arriva route 502 was withdrawn which operated between Romford and Harlow). Regal Busways new Saturday service H1 (Essex CC contract) and Travel with Hunny's route 55 replaced the route.http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/efnews/4717962.LOUGHTON__Vital_bus_route_set_to_go/ Vital bus route set to go The 55 has since been replaced by route 555, and the current Saturday service of the H1 is under consideration to be withdrawn. * From the 27th November 2011 Essex bus routes 71/72 (Stondon Massey to Warley via Brentwood), 261 (Blackmore to Brentwood via Doddinghurst) and the 268/269 (Blackmore/Brentwood to Thurrock College/Grays via Ockendon) will be passed to Regal Busways of Chelmsford, Imperial will continue to run Essex bus route 11 (Purfleet station to Chadwell St Mary) and School contracts and Private hire work Fleet *Dennis Dart MPD/Plaxton Pointer 2 - Ex Metroline (Y251NLK) *Dennis Dart SLF/Plaxton Pointer 2 - Ex Metroline (R181 VLA) *Dennis Dart/Plaxton Pointer - Ex Hylton Castle (N261 PJR) *Dennis Dart SLF/Marshall Capital - Ex MTL London and Metroline. (D710 - R710 MEW, D874 - R874 MCE) *Leyland Olympian/Northern Counties - Ex Kentish Bus and Arriva London.(G515/521 VBB) *RT Private Hire *AEC Routemaster Private Hire *Leyland Atlantean (XPG 201T) Private Hire See also *List of bus routes in Essex *Regal Busways *Essex CC Route H1 *TWH Bus & Coach *List of bus operators of the United Kingdom References External links *Imperial Bus Company *Essex County Council *Traveline Category:Vintage bus operators in the United Kingdom Category:Bus operators in England Category:Transport in Thurrock Category:Transport in Epping Forest Category:Transport in Harlow Category:Transport in Chelmsford Category:Transport in Brentwood